Relief but vigilance, this is the feeling of the elected officials of Giennois after the government’s decision on the summer gathering of travelers. The rally will not take place in Nevoy at the end of August-beginning of Septemberit is now the former military base of Grostenquin, in Moselle, which is expected according to the arbitration rendered by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Monday evening. Relief, because everyone remembers the exceptional influx that there had been last May in Nevoy with 40,000 people, which had caused tensions. But watch out for the future.
A sigh of relief, even if the problem is moved elsewhere
“I’m a natural optimist but I thought 98% that the rally would take place in Nevoy” confess Jean-Francois Darmoisthe mayor of the town who held a press conference alongside Francis Cammal, the president of the Giennois community of communes, and Marc Gaudet, the president of the Loiret departmental council. “At the announcement of the Prime Minister, I had a sigh of reliefcontinues Jean-François Darmois: for me, for the inhabitants of Giennois, but also for the travelers who have always told us that they wanted to organize this second gathering elsewhere than in Nevoy.”
Even if there was the context of the urban riots and then the reorganization, Marc Gaudet regrets for his part that it was necessary to wait “the end of the end“for the decision to be made, while”all elected officials, of all tendencies, had warned about safety and fire risk issues“. Francis Cammalhe recognizes in Elisabeth Borne a certain form of courage: “It wasn’t easy, because to remove a problem from one place is to move it somewhere else.” As it happens in MoselleOr local elected officials do not want such a gathering – Salvatore Coscarella, the president of the agglomeration community of Saint-Avold Synergie, also invites the elected representatives of the 41 municipalities of the agglo to meet Thursday evening to prepare the response…
The question of the gauge remains open
However, the elected officials of Loire remain vigilant. first for that it be definitively recorded that Nevoy no longer hosts the summer gathering of the Life and Light association. “It has to be permanenté, insists Jean-François Darmois, the commitment was made in 2014 but has not always been kept. The ministers change, but the decisions must endure over time so that we avoid a psychodrama each summer.” ButVigilance also applies to the Spring Gospel Gatheringwhich has taken place in Nevoy since 1987, on land owned by the association.
“This land is 130 hectares, it cannot support more than 25,000 people“, summarizes Jean-François Darmois. If there were 40,000 people last May, it may be a post-Covid effect; but there may also be less circumstantial reasonsemphasizes Francis Cammal, “with a revival of spirituality among travelers and a social network effect that further promotes the event“: “there is no guarantee that we will not have such an influx again next spring, potentially the Vie et Lumière association has 140,000 members!” Which once again raises the question of the maximum gauge that should be imposed: “Travelers don’t want it, but we have to find a solution and anticipate things.” Elected officials intend to relaunch the Loiret prefecture on this subject from the start of the school year.
Nevoy: relief but vigilance of elected officials after the decision of the Prime Minister